IBM researchers have developed a bulk process for producing nanotube transistors only 10 atoms wide, or 500 times smaller that current silicon transistors.

“We believe IBM has now passed a major milestone on the road toward molecular-scale chips,” said Thomas Theis, director of physical sciences at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center here. “Our researcher’s study [to be published Friday (April 27)] in Science magazine proves that we can grow carbon nanotube transistors in a manner similar to the way we grow silicon transistors.

“If we are ultimately successful, then carbon nanotubes will enable us to indefinitely maintain Moore’s Law in terms of density, because there is very little doubt in my mind that these can be made smaller than any future silicon transistor,” said Theis.